PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — A 17-year-old male has been charged in the fatal shooting of a Detroit-area man who had been trying to expose sexual predators by posing as a teenaged girl on social media in unauthorized “sting” operations.
Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald announced the charges of homicide, carrying a concealed weapon and using a firearm during a felony. There is no evidence that the shooting was related to any “sting” operation being conducted by Robert Wayne Lee II, McDonald’s office said Thursday.
Lee, 40, was shot in September 2023 at a restaurant in Pontiac, northwest of Detroit. Surveillance video shows Lee entering the restaurant and approaching a booth where the suspect and his 18-year-old friend were seated, McDonald's office said in a release.
Lee began fighting with the 18-year-old and the suspect, 16 at the time, was seen firing several shots at Lee. Both teenagers fled the restaurant, but later were arrested. Lee died at a hospital.
Lee had gone by the name “Boopac Shakur” on social media. His crusade had led to criminal charges against several men, but his work also misidentified one person as a sexual predator, the Oakland County sheriff's office has said.
Some videos posted online show Lee and others aggressively confronting alleged sexual predators in public places. One of Lee’s videos posted in 2022 led the sheriff’s office to arrest a probationary jail deputy who attempted to arrange a meeting and sex with someone he believed to be a 15-year-old girl. The deputy was fired.
The prosecutor’s office said it has asked that the teenager be tried as an adult. If convicted, he could be sentenced as a juvenile or an adult. The judge also could give him a blended sentence that incorporates both juvenile rehabilitation and adult punishment.
The suspect in Lee's slaying has been held since his arrest on unrelated charges, of assault with intent to murder and using a firearm during a felony, related to a September shooting outside a Pontiac market. His trial in that shooting began this week.